University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen To Face Florida International
December 13, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
GAME DAY QUICK FACTS
The Teams: Massachusetts (1-5) vs. Florida International (4-3)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: William D. Mullins Memorial Center (9,493), Amherst, Mass.
UMass Sports Radio Network: WRNX 100.9 FM, Holyoke, flagship; Bob Behler, play-by-play; Jack Leaman, color
UMass Student Radio: WMUA 91.1 FM, Amherst, Mass.
Probable Massachusetts Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 2 Jackie Rogers 6-8 217 Sr. F 34 Raheim Lamb 6-6 198 Jr. C 40 Micah Brand 6-11 262 Sr. G 12 Anthony Anderson 5-11 164 Jr. G 50 Marcus Cox 6-4 200 Jr.
Probable Florida International Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 5 Al Harris 6-9 210 Jr. F 15 Eulis Baez 6-7 228 Jr. C 42 Nikola Novakovic 6-9 245 Sr. G 3 Carlos Morban 6-2 181 So. G 20 Junior Matias 6-2 206 Jr.
The Game: After playing five of its first six games away from home, the Massachusetts basketball team will play five straight and eight of its next 10 games in the Commonwealth, beginning with tonight's contest against Sun Belt Conference entrant Florida International. Coach Steve Lappas' Minutemen stand 1-5 on the season after Tuesday's 59-48 loss at ninth-ranked (both polls) Connecticut. However, all five UMass setbacks this season have come at the hands of 2002 NCAA Tournament teams, with four of the losses coming away from home. Armed with only two seniors on its 13-man 2002-03 roster (and just one other player, Connecticut transfer Marcus Cox, with more than a year's worth of collegiate experience under their belt), Massachusetts opened its season with an 84-71 loss to 2002 NCAA runner-up Indiana in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational, then dropped a 69-53 decision to Utah, another 2002 NCAA Tournament team. The Minutemen rebounded to beat host Chaminade, 69-55, in Maui's seventh-place game, only to return to New England and drop games to a trio of 2002 NCAA Tournament entrants in Central Connecticut State (46-45 at Mohegan Sun Arena, Dec. 2), Boston College (80-62) and UConn. Florida International, meanwhile, brings a 4-3 record to Amherst, but has lost its last three outings. The Golden Panthers raced to a 4-0 start (matching the 22-year-old program's best start ever), beating Morris Brown (60-52) and Iona (65-55) to capture the FIU Tip-Off Classic, and Florida Gulf Coast (78-50), before scoring a 68-65 overtime win at defending Ivy League champion Princeton. Since knocking off the Tigers, though, FIU has dropped a homecourt decision to George Washington (77-63) in Miami, and games to Wisconsin-Milwaukee (61-48) and Samford (64-54) in last weekend's Pizza Hut Classic in Springfield, Mo. The Golden Panthers, picked to finish third in the Sun Belt's East Division behind favorite Western Kentucky and Arkansas-Little Rock (a team UMass beat, 66-60, here in last year's season opener) and making their first stop on a three-game road trip that continues Wednesday at De Paul and a week from today at Washington, have allowed 55.5 points per game in four victories this season. But, over FIU's last three contests, all losses, it has yielded 67.3 ppg.
Minute-Matters: An inside look at Massachusetts as the Minutemen look to snap a three-game losing streak against an opponent (FIU) that also has a three-game losing string on the line . . .
The Coaches: Massachusetts coach Steve Lappas (City College of New York, 1977) owns a 14-21 (.400) record in his second season on the Minuteman bench and a 244-193 (.558) mark in his 15th season as a Division I head coach. Lappas, who last year became just the third UMass rookie coach to start his career 4-0, and the first since Johnny Orr in 1963-64, has enjoyed tremendous success in year two of his rebuilding projects in stops at both Villanova and Manhattan. In fact, he won an average of eight more games in his second year than he did in his rookie campaign at those institutions. At Villanova, Lappas won 20 games and the school's first NIT championship in 1993-94 after a debut season that produced an 8-19 record, while his second season at Manhattan saw the Jaspers post an 11-17 record after a 7-21 mark in his rookie campaign. Introduced as UMass' 19th basketball coach on March 26, 2001, Lappas came to Amherst after nine highly-successful years at Villanova (1992-93 through 2000-01), where he guided the Wildcats to a 174-110 (.613) record and seven postseason appearances (four NCAA, three NIT). He ranks as the sixth-winningest coach in Big East history (and was the third-winningest among active league coaches when he left the Main Line) with 97 league victories. At Manhattan (1988-89 through 1991-92), Lappas improved the Jaspers' win total every year, going from seven in 1988-89, to 11 the following year, 13 in his third season and 25 in his fourth and final campaign (1991-92) en route to a 56-62 (.475) four-year mark and one postseason (NIT in 1991-92) appearance. Equally impressive as Lappas' on-court record is the classroom performance of his players, as all of his seniors at Massachusetts, Villanova and Manhattan have graduated. Prior to moving to Manhattan, he spent four seasons as an assistant to Rollie Massimino at Villanova, and was a member of the Wildcats' 1985 national championship staff. Lappas is 1-0 all-time against FIU, as his 1997-98 Villanova team beat the Golden Panthers, 103-73, in Philadelphia. His staff includes second-year assistant coaches John Leonard, Andrew Theokas and Chris Walker, as well as Director of Operations Paul Culpo and Administrative Assistant Carey Edwards. Florida International's Donnie Marsh (Franklin & Marshall, 1979) owns a 98-98 (.500) record in eighth season as a head coach, and a 22-44 (.333) record in his third season with the Golden Panthers. His first FIU team fashioned an 8-21 mark, while last year's team posted a 10-20 record. Before moving to Florida International, Marsh spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech (1997-2000) and Florida State (1994-97). He was the head coach at Division III Elizabethtown (Pa.) in 1988, posting a 12-13 record, then went to College of New Jersey where he compiled a four-year mark of 64-41. A third-round draft choice of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks in 1979, Marsh's first College of New Jersey team went 22-6 and earned an NCAA Tournament bid. Marsh is coaching against Lappas and UMass for the first time as a head coach.
UConn Review: For the UMass basketball team, it was the best of times (the game's first 22 minutes) and the worst of times (the final 18 minutes), as it dropped a gut-wrenching 59-48 decision to No. 9 UConn Tuesday night in the Hartford Civic Center. The loss to UConn was UMass' 12th straight and 20th in the last 21 meetings between these longtime rivals. Massachusetts built a 10-point lead at 15-5 with 6:15 left in the half, then outscored the Huskies 15-4 the rest of the way to take a 30-9 lead into the locker room at the half. The nine points were the fewest allowed by the Minutemen in a half since the 1957-58 season. UMass shot 46.7 percent from the field in the first half, and held the hometown Huskies to 15.4 percent shooting from the floor, including 0-for-7 from three-point range. The second half started well for the Minutemen, as they scored the first four points to push their advantage to 34-9 at the 18:37 mark on a Jackie Rogers fielder. Connecticut, though, went on a 29-2 run (which included a 22-0 spurt) to take a 38-36 lead with 6:32 left on an Emeka Okafor basket. UMass would never lead again, although it did force ties at 38 and 40, and it was within 46-44 with 2:33 left. The Huskies closed the game on a 13-4 run and drained 10-of-12 free throws in the game's final 1:05 to keep the Minutemen at bay. In the final 20 minutes, UConn outscored UMass, 50-18. Anthony Anderson led the UMass attack with 13 points, while Rogers chipped in 12 and Micah Brand recorded a 12-point, career-high 13-rebound effort. Ben Gordon paced UConn with 18 points, Rashad Anderson had 16 off the bench and Denham Brown added 11. Okafor grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked five shots, but was held to a season-low four points.
The Series: This is the first-ever meeting between the Minutemen and Golden Panthers. UMass is 6-1 all-time vs. current members of the Sun Belt Conference, most-recently beating Arkansas-Little Rock, 66-60, in last year's season opener at the Mullins Center. FIU is 3-6 all-told vs. current A-10 institutions after dropping a 77-63 homecourt decision to George Washington, Dec. 3.
The Minutemen at Mullins: Massachusetts, which went 8-6 at the Mullins Center last season (9-6 overall at home, including a win over eventual Elite Eight entrant Oregon at the Springfield Civic Center), stands 84-30 (.737) in its 11th season of play in the building, 59-18 (.766) all-time vs. A-10 opponents and 25-12 (.676) vs. non-league foes. UMass needs a win tonight against the Golden Panthers to avoid its seventh two-game losing streak in the building's history, and avoid the first 0-2 start to its home schedule since the 1987-88 season. Last year, Massachusetts lost back-to-back home games twice (to Holy Cross and Connecticut, then later to Saint Joseph's and Ohio State). The Minutemen have posted a .500 or better homecourt record for 20-straight seasons, including each of the 10 seasons they have called the Mullins Center home.
Preseason Forecast: The Atlantic 10 preseason coaches and media poll pegged UMass third in the East behind Temple and Saint Joseph's, but ahead of St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Fordham. Meanwhile, the West Division was forecast as a Xavier, Dayton, Richmond, La Salle, George Washington and Duquesne finish. Anthony Anderson earned preseason third team All-Atlantic 10 honors, while Michael Lasme was named to the league's preseason All-Rookie unit.
Another Tough Slate: Challenging schedules and UMass basketball have gone hand and hand for more than a decade now, and that beat should continue for the Minutemen in 2002-03. Through games of Dec. 12, Massachusetts had played the nation's 19th most difficult schedule and owned an RPI of No. 168 according to The RPI Report. The RPI Report ranked UMass' 2001-02 slate as the nation's 49th-toughest, the 10th time in the last 11 seasons the Minutemen ranked among the nation's top 50 in schedule strength. UMass, 0-5 against 2002 NCAA Tournament teams, still must face a North Carolina State team which advanced to the NCAAs for the first time in more than a decade a year ago, next month in Amherst. In the A-10, Massachusetts will play more than half (nine) of its 16-game league slate against league members that earned postseason bids a year ago. The Minutemen will tackle NIT entrants Temple, Saint Joseph's and St. Bonaventure on a home-and-home basis, while meeting NCAA Tournament team Xavier, and NIT participants Richmond and Dayton once each.
Second-Year Improvement: If history holds true to form for UMass coach Steve Lappas, the Minutemen will likely see a big improvement in the victory column this season. Why? Because in each of Lappas' first two head coaching stops, at Villanova and Manhattan, he won an average of eight more games in his second season on the bench than he did in his rookie season. At Villanova, he posted eight victories in his first season (1992-93), but went 20-12 in his second year and captured the school's first-ever National Invitation Tournament championship. At Manhattan, Lappas went 7-21 in year one, but improved to 11-17 the second season. Improvement in year two has been a trend among basketball coaches in Amherst, too, as eight of UMass' last nine head coaches have won more games in their second campaign than they did in year one. Coach Robert T. Curran engineered the biggest turnaround over that stretch, a nine-game improvement in the win column from four victories in 1952-53 to 13 in his second year, while John Calipari saw a seven-game improvement in his victory total from 10 wins in his rookie season to 17 and a postseason bid (NIT) in year two. Calipari is the only UMass coach to follow a losing rookie campaign with a postseason bid the next season.
International Flavor: UMass freshmen Michael Lasme and Alassane Kouyate both played prep hoops in the United States, but claim hometowns on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Lasme, who can speak four languages (English, French, German and Spanish), is a native of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in Africa. He moved to France when he was 12, and has lived in the United States the past two and a half years. Not to be out done by his new teammate, Kouyate, a native of Bamako, Mali, can speak five languages -- English, French, and three African dialects. He has been in the United States for the last three years. In addition, sophomore Kyle Wilson is from White Rock, British Columbia, and junior Paco Kotaridis hails from Athens, Greece, giving the Minutemen a foursome of international diplomats on their 2002-03 roster.
The Baker's Dozen: Over the last 13-plus seasons, Massachusetts owns a 283-146 (.660) overall record, an average of 21.7 wins per season. The Minutemen have made 10 postseason appearances over that stretch, while recording seven 20-win campaigns, 12 winning conference records and 11 .500 or better campaigns in that stretch. After posting no winning campaigns, just two .500 records and a 53-133 (.285) record in its first 13 seasons in the A-10, UMass has gone 144-66 (.686) in regular-season league play over the last 13 campaigns en route to 10 conference crowns (five regular season, five tournament). Eight times over the last 13 seasons the Minutemen have won at least 11 league games. In the Atlantic 10, no program that has called the league home in each of the last 13 years has won more games overall than UMass (283). Xavier, though, does have 290 victories to its credit over that time frame, but the Musketeers didn't join the A-10 until the 1995-96 campaign.
Looking Ahead to 2003-04: Art Bowers, a 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard from St. Benedict's (N.J.) Prep School, signed a National Letter of Intent during the recently completed early-signing period to play for the Minutemen next season. "We are really excited to sign Art," UMass coach Steve Lappas said. "He's a player who will really fit into our system. Art is a tremendous athlete and a gifted offensive player. I'm really looking forward to having him in our program, because he's a special talent. Art's a driver, but he also has the ability to hit the three-pointer, too, so his versatility is a huge plus." As a junior for coach Danny Hurley, Bowers, a native of Wilmington, Del., averaged 16 points per game en route to first team All-State honors. He led St. Benedict's, located in Newark, N.J., to a 22-7 record and the state championship. Ranked as the nation's 32nd-best prep prospect by ESPN.com and the 44th-best by PrepStars, he earned All-Tournament honors at the PowerAid and Slam Dunk to the Beach events as a junior. Bowers is also a two-time Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions Most Valuable Player. Bowers, who selected UMass over Wake Forest, Rutgers, De Paul and Pittsburgh, outscored 2002 Ohio high school Player of the Year and Sports Illustrated coverboy Lebron James, 21-18, in a head-to-head match-up last season, but James' St. Vincent-St. Mary's team pulled out a 67-60 victory. In addition to Bowers, top 100 recruit Rashaun Freeman (Schnectady, N.Y.), who signed with UMass in 2001, is attending Massachusetts this season and will be eligible next year.
Fast Breaks: At Connecticut (Huskies, 59--48)--The No. 9 Huskies overcame a 25-point second-half deficit to hand UMass its 12th straight loss in the series; Minutemen held 30-9 halftime lead, yielded fewest points in a half since the 1957-58 season, and extended lead to 25 at 34-9 with 18 minutes to play; Huskies responded with 29-2 run, which included a 22-0 spurt to take control of the game; Massachusetts was within 46-44 with 2:33 left, but UConn closed game on 13-4 run to seal the deal; Anthony Anderson led UMass with 13 points, while Micah Brand had 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, and Jackie Rogers added 12 points. Boston College (Eagles, 80-62)--Minutemen raced to 7-0 lead in game's first 90 seconds and hit 9-of-12 from the field in the early going, but Boston College broke a 24-all tie on a with a dunk by Troy Bell and never trailed again in beating UMass for second straight time in the Mullins Center and the fourth time overall; UMass was within 34-30 with 19:51 left in the game, but a 14-0 Eagles' run put the game away, as BC built lead to as many as 23 in second half; Michael Lasme led UMass with a 13-point effort off the bench, while Gabe Lee tallied career-high 11 and Brennan Martin added a career-high-tying nine points; BC outrebounded UMass, 44-31, and hit 49.2 percent from the field, including 54.3 percent in the second half; Crowd of 6,392 was largest for home opener since 7,536 were on hand for the Dec. 2, 1997 opener against College of Charleston. Central Connecticut State (Blue Devils, 46-45)--Central Connecticut State overcame a 15-point second half deficit to hand Minutemen their third loss in four games to open the season; Blue Devils closed the game on a 16-5 run to erase UMass' 40-30 advantage in the game's final 7:44; Loss ended UMass' 29-game win streak when holding an opponent to 49 or fewer points, dating to 1986-87 campaign; Brand recorded his first double-double of the season (and the fourth of his career), an 11-point, 10-rebound effort; Rogers recorded his third double-figure scoring game of the season, a 13-point performance. Chaminade (Minutemen, 69-55)--UMass picked up first win of season behind Anderson's career-high-tying 20 points and career-best nine assists; Minutemen trailed by six early, but rallied to take 34-33 halftime lead; game was close early in final half, before Massachusetts used runs of 7-0 and 12-1 to push the lead to 16 at 65-49 with 4:33 left in the game, and the Silverswords would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way; Lasme tallied career-best 14 points in third career game; UMass hit season-high 47.2 percent from the field, including 52.2 percent in the second half. Utah (Utes, 69-53)--In first-ever meeting between the schools, UMass had 23-18 lead with 3:15 left in the first half, but Utah scored final 12 points to take 30-23 halftime lead; Utes pushed lead to 16 at 51-35 with 10:55 left in the game, but Minutemen used 12-2 run to pull within 53-47 with 6:11 to go; Down 55-49 at the 4:22 mark, UMass watched Utah score the game's next eight points to put the game away, as Utes closed game with 14-4 run; Rogers was lone Minuteman to score in double-digits (17 points), as Massachusetts started the season 0-2 for the first time since the 1982-83 campaign (0-4); Nick Jacobson led the Utes, who shot 58.5 percent from the field for the game (68.8 percent in the second half), with a game-high 21 points. Indiana (Hoosiers, 84-71)--Minutemen held four-point lead (11-7) at the 15:56 mark, but 2002 NCAA runner-up Indiana broke 16-all tie with a 6-0 run to take a 22-16 lead and the closest UMass would get the rest of the way would be four points, the last time at 44-40 with 2:29 left in the first half; Hoosiers scored final six points of first half to push halftime lead to 50-40, and Minutemen got no closer than seven in the second stanza; Four Minutemen scored in double figures, led by Raheim Lamb's first career double-double, a 17-point, career-high 12-rebound effort; UConn transfer Marcus Cox had collegiate high 14 points in his UMass debut; All five Indiana starters scored in double figures, led by Tom Coverdale's 20 points and George Leach's 19-point, 16-rebound double-double; Hoosiers went on to win Maui title.
From Here: The Minutemen take a week off for final exams, then host Lafayette a week from today in a 1 p.m. game at the Springfield Civic Center before returning to the Mullins Center for a Dec. 23 game against Rider. Florida International plays at De Paul on Wednesday night.